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Gannett Central Wisconsin Media

John Burke, owner of Performance Timing, times the runners at the Edgar Invitational cross-country meet Sept. 25 at Nine Mile County Forest Recreation Area near Wausau. / Dan Young/Gannett Central Wisconsin Media

Performance Timing

Address: 5907 Old Coach Road, Wausau Established: 2006 Top executive: John Burke, owner Number of employees: Five, all part-time Description: Performance Timing provides timing services for sporting events, primarily endurance events such as running, cycling, cross country skiing, track and field and multisport events such as triathlons. The business works with citizen events and high school athletics. Contact: 715-218-7883; www.performancetiming.com

Employee profile: Beth Burke

Age: 51 Residence: Wausau Position: Assistant What you should know: When Performance Timing is in the midst of timing a road race, track meet or cross country ski race, John Burke often spends much of his time in a trailer working on a computer. From his small moveable office, he keeps track and categorizes finishing times. Meanwhile, he often has a part-time worker out on the course, making sure equipment is working and taking down finishing times manually as a backup to the computers and timing chips. Often, that part-time worker is a family member and most often, that family member is Beth Burke, John Burke’s wife. Performance Timing is a business that relies on technical expertise and cutting-edge equipment, but that’s mainly John Burke’s area. “I don’t really do a lot of computer work,” Beth Burke said. “Her role is often keeping order of things, to be my eyes and ears,” John Burke said. Beth Burke didn’t really envision herself spending many Saturday mornings standing in all kinds of weather watching other people compete. “I guess I thought the business wouldn’t last,” she said. “But it has.” She said she finds the people to be nice, and she likes helping organize events that keep people healthy and are positive additions to communities. Beth Burke enjoys watching all kinds of people strive to achieve their goals. “It’s not just the athletic people who do these kinds of things. There’s one woman who I have watched over the years. She used to be last in every race, but she kept going. She’s improved a lot. Now, she’s not last anymore,” Beth Burke said. “I don’t think she knows me, but I’ve watched her for many years. That part is very nice.”

John Burke, owner of Performance Timing, times the runners at the Edgar Invitational cross-country meet Sept. 25 at Nine Mile County Forest Recreation Area near Wausau. / Dan Young/Gannett Central Wisconsin Media

John Burke, owner of Performance Timing, times the runners at the Edgar Invitational cross-country meet Sept. 25 at Nine Mile County Forest Recreation Area near Wausau. / Dan Young/Gannett Central Wisconsin Media

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WAUSAU — John Burke just wanted to help the Wausau Nordic Ski Club put on its annual Snekkevik race.

This was about six years ago, and Burke was an avid cross-country skier, but more importantly, he was the father of two daughters who were competing at the high school level at the time. They competed in the Snekkevik as well, and Burke was doing the fatherly thing when he offered to help organize the race.

He decided that the event could use a decent timing system, so he bought the equipment himself. He didn’t know it at the time, but that was the first step in the formation of Performance Timing, a business that provides race results for about 100 events every year. Performance Timing offers services for high school track, cross country and ski races, and other races open to the public such as bicycling events, triathlons and road runs.

Chances are if you’ve run some kind of race in north central Wisconsin, you’ve benefited from Burke’s timing services.

The business started when Burke decided to expand from simply timing Wausau Nordic Ski Club races to offering his services and equipment for other races. Burke said he wanted to earn money to help pay for the equipment, but he also wanted to gain more experience in the field.

It’s still a side job for the 53-year-old Wausau man, who works full-time as a financial services representative for MetLife Insurance.

But he has steadily bought updated equipment to make the race times more sophisticated and accurate, and now he’ll have to hire as many as five very part-time employees — often family members — to help out with bigger events, such as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

Six years isn’t a very long time, but in the timing business, the way in which events are timed and organized has changed plenty as computers have become cheaper and faster, and technology has grown by leaps and bounds.

Long gone are the days of timers using stopwatches and scores being hand-written on sheets. Timing races is largely an automated process today, Burke said. Timing chips that can be read by scanners know exactly when runners cross starting and finish lines, and even the chips have grown more sophisticated. Chips are small individual computer sensors that each racer wears. Equipment that reads the sensors is placed at starting and finish lines and the system then tracks the performance of each participant. The sensors and measuring equipment have gotten smaller and cheaper through the years, Burke said.

Those technological advances all allowed Burke to expand his services. He has purchased a state-of-the-art, high-speed capture camera that he uses at high school track meets that give officials accurate photo finishes.

“It’s just like the camera they use at the Olympics,” Burke said. “Only they use several cameras.”

Burke’s interest in technology and competitive sports fuels his desire to keep offering more. He said he soon hopes to provide messaging services that will send results to athletes on their cellphones. Other high-tech options include tracking athletes throughout races, so others can log on and see their progress in real time.

“I enjoy working with the technology aspect of it, because it separates you from the rest (of the timing services),” Burke said. “I find that it is a competitive advantage.”